East Clarendon's Cornelius sees positives in young, inexperienced team
First-year head coach has just seven seniors on roster
Turbeville – Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the East Clarendon High School football team won’t be built in one game.
Despite a 55-18 loss to Latta on August 25 in his debut as the Wolverines’ head coach, Larry Cornelius had words of praise for his squad.
“A lot of it was inexperience. We were tentative at first, not sure about ourselves,” said Cornelius, the former Lakewood head coach who has just seven seniors on his roster. “They were the better team, nine back on defense, six on offense. They put the hammer to us. Offensively, we had some missed blocking assignments. On defense I felt like were in the right position most of the time, we just didn’t execute.
“There were mistakes made, both by players and coaches. We shared in the loss. I felt like we ended the game with composure. We were out of sorts at first, so I’m proud of that. The effort was there, we were not hanging our heads. That’s important when you’re trying to create a winning culture.”
The Wolverines had three big offensive plays to account for their touchdowns against the Vikings. Wide receiver Whit Nesbit took a short pass from quarterback Takoda Cornelius, the coach’s son, 52 yards for a score. Running back Rod Shaw had a 48-yard TD run, and running back Tyquan Wilson had a 55-yard scoring run.
Coach Cornelius likes the depth he has at positions on both sides of the football. Bennett Matthews is competing for the QB job along with his son. Jay Webb will get work at running back along with Shaw and Wilson.
Battling for playing time as wideouts are Jyre Fulton, Walker Partee, Darius McCray, Colby McKenzie and Nesbit. Ryan Sullivan, Hunter Mixon and Tucker Owens are playing a tight end/H back position.
There are four starters back on the offensive line in left tackle Kyle McCutcheon, center Colton Holloway, right guard Xavier Smith and right tackle Mike Woods. Jordan Wright is at left guard.
“We've got a good rotation going on with the defensive line to keep our O line fresh,” Coach Cornelius said. “I feel like I'm two deep at every wide receiver position, three deep at running back so that transitions over to defense.
“The offensive line is going to be the staple for our offense. That’s the way it should be all the time. That's our strength.”
Woods and Jaylon Barron are returning starters at defensive end along with Smith on the interior. Kollin Brown is the other lineman in a 4-4 look. The rest of the rotation includes McCutcheon, Jamon Green and Zyon Bennett.
Sullivan, Owens, Shaw and McCray will start at linebacker, but Mixon, Wright and Colby McKenzie will see time there.
“We have six guys so we haven't solidified our starters yet, which is a good thing,” the head coach said. “It's not that we're trying to search for people. We have enough where we can rotate them in.”
Freshmen Braylon Brown and Picasso Brown are the cornerbacks with Nesbit starting at safety.
Zachary Shapley will handle the kicking duties.
Owens, a senior, believes he and his teammates have transitioned to Cornelius in a positive way.
“I definitely think we have adjusted well,” Owens said. “He is a really good coach He makes us feel determined and faithful in his plays. We started getting it because he kept pushing it on us. Then we started to learn everything he was trying to teach us.”
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